Veteran Diplomat Said to Be Picked as Third Envoy in Syrian Conflict

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

July 9, 2014

A veteran Italian-Swedish diplomat, Staffan de Mistura, has been tapped to try to achieve what two seasoned envoys could not: craft a peace deal for Syria.

Mr. de Mistura, a dual citizen of Italy and Sweden and a colloquial speaker of Arabic, was chosen by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, diplomats reported Wednesday.

Mr. Ban told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday that consultations were continuing and “I hope to be in a position to make an announcement very soon.”

Mr. de Mistura has an extensive history with the United Nations, having previously served as the secretary general’s envoy to both Afghanistan and Iraq. He was also a deputy executive director of the World Food Program.

Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, declared on Twitter: “We will do our utmost to support Staffan de Mistura in his new UN Syria mandate. The war and the suffering must end.”

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, described the appointment as “a good solution.”

Still, what Mr. de Mistura will be able to do remains uncertain.

His appointment comes just weeks after the re-election of Syria’s president, Bashar-al Assad, to another seven-year term. The previous envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the election had gone against the grain of a peace deal that the government and the opposition agreed to in 2012: the formation of a transitional government.

Mr. de Mistura’s appointment also coincides with fresh leadership for the main Syrian opposition coalition. The Western-backed opposition, which calls itself National Coalition, on Wednesday elected as its president Hadi al-Bahra, a United States-trained engineer and its chief negotiator at the Geneva peace talks. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said, “We look to president-elect Bahra and other new leaders to reach out to all Syrian communities and to strengthen unity amongst moderate opposition institutions.”

The first Syria envoy, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, resigned in August 2012, calling it a “mission impossible.”